Such is Karma
by Hakucho
Summary: Based on a certain someone's flashbacks in City at War part 3. Main characters belong to Mirage Comics and 4Kids!Entertainment. Flames and Karai bashing or antiKarai ranting will NOT be tolerated.


They left her there for dead.

It was too much for them to keep her – alive, at least. But even then she would have been a bother: funerals are expensive no matter what price they can offer.

Why was she even there in the first place? It's an easy way out for the both of them: drop her there and let her die. Idiotic and cruel, no doubt, but – nonetheless – easy and effective.

It was ages since they left her behind. She tried to find her way back home almost every day, but no mater what she always failed. Although she would try her best to make it past the gathering rubbish heaps nearing the stench of decay, avoid the strange, lonely faces inside the flimsy cardboard boxes or the angry, starved cats that skirted across the street from filthy puddle to puddle, the result was the same: she was on her own. Alone; with no shelter, no food, no familiar faces…no parents to care for her.

As if she had that last part all along.

Any normal child would have cried at the thought of being abandoned for what seemed to be no reason at all. Any normal child, that is, who came from a regular family with enough wealth to secure shelter, food and new clothes for a lifetime; who were given whatever they wanted, just because their parents cared for them. But she knew she was not by such standards a normal child to begin with: from the start there was chaos in her family. She never knew the full reasons, but it was clear for her that to the man and woman who lived with her that she was nothing more than a burden; an extra item that – as far as she could gather from their angry faces and hurtful words – was responsible for their downfall in the first place.

She would have wept in the ditch if there was anything left for her to cry about. Her tiny heart learned to harden itself against the pain back then before the man and the woman decided to get rid of her from their lives, and hardened itself even more once she realised what actually happened.

All there was left was to fend for herself.

"Oi, you! Get off!" a swift kick to the ribs with a well-polished shoe immediately woke her up from the ground near the shop. Although she wasn't a stranger to being yelled at or hit, the man and the woman seemed to have the dignity to spare striking her with their feet. Perhaps they felt that they had to show _some_ responsibility for having her around in the first place, or maybe they were too pre-occupied with other things…like how to pay for new shoes. She stared at the clothes on the shop-keeper with shock at the pain in her side as well as fascination at how well he seemed to manage – just from looking at him she could tell that he didn't worry about staying alive or finding somewhere to keep away from the chilly nights or grabbing barely enough scraps to feed himself if only for a few minutes. His well-combed hair, his washed face, his clean shirt, his shoes...her own shoes had worn out long ago since she was taken away from home. Now she walked on bare feet, trudging against the shards of brick and dirty, wet aftermath of the rains, feeling the harsh attacks on her skin that the weather had to offer.

"I said, '**Get off**!'" The shop-keep once more struck her hard, this time with a large hand knocking against her head. "Filthy little **shit**! If I catch you near my shop again I'll turn you into dog meat!" He spat into her young face, glaring at the small person before him until she finally turned and ran away, not wanting to re-discover what it felt to be kicked.

Rich or poor, he was the same: full of hate and disgust towards her just for existing. That urchin had no _right_ to taint the cleanliness of his shop; how _dare_ she!

Adults can not be trusted.

_Any one_ can not be trusted.

There was a sound as she rummaged her hands through the rubbish in her hide-out.

She wasn't planning to stay there forever; a skirmish had taken place in the street the night before when she was searching for something to eat and she didn't want to get caught in the middle of it. So she chose to stay where she was, quiet enough so that they wouldn't find her…

She first heard the voices in the alleyway, and saw it for herself by peeking behind the flimsy curtain in front; two groups of people shouting at each other, chasing their rivals on motorbikes or firing guns …some members of one gang went after their enemies with chains and crowbars, while they in turn decided upon daggers or even bare fists. She saw that if one of the people involved got hit, they never got back up no matter how many times they had been hurt. Instead they fell down with a violent jolt; punctured, ruined bodies covered in dark red lashes and stilled eyes open in surprise or anger. She didn't want to be found by the ones left standing in the alley, so she remained silent and waited until it was all over.

And she didn't want to be found in the morning after, either.

"What are you doing here, little girl?" The man who moved away the curtain asked. His pale, well-kept hakama, long oiled hair and wooden parasol suggested that he would have been more in his element somewhere else, like a lush garden or a …as if b that /b was what she noticed when she looked at him. One thing was clear: he was an adult. Like the man and the woman who lived with her were adults. And the shop-keep was an adult. And, perhaps, the gangs who fought last night and other such people.

"Where are your parents?" He got nothing in reply. "Well?" She just sat there huddled on the floor, frowning at this tall intruder. It was obvious to him that she wouldn't speak, not with that much distrust in her young eyes. He pushed the curtain further aside, and walked towards the little child for a closer inspection. The parasol was closed so he could bring himself down to meet her face. From a distance, it seemed he was treating her like a stray animal; from the way he regarded her glowering to how he slowly reached out a hand to touch her, only to be – as perhaps expected – slapped at in response.

"My…you're a fierce specimen, aren't you?" There was a slight pause before he said this. Not because of the pain that would have stung from the tiny hand, but because she was bold enough to attempt it. It was reflected as a hidden note of bewilderment in his voice, but the possibility of whether the little she-demon picked up on this was uncertain. She just continued to stare at the man with well-learnt hostility, appearing unaware of what was going on in his mind. He then straightened up his body and took two medium steps back, keeping his gaze directed down at her. If he was fuming at her previous display of disrespect, he didn't seem to be angry. But if he was actually saddened by the sight of a child having to live in such poverty, he didn't seem to be upset. There were no real signs of what he was feeling for her on his features, just the face of a man halfway-deep in thought.

Until, without any warning, he swung at her with his parasol.

She dodged it instinctively, leaping out of its path just before it could hit the ground; but rather than stop with one attack the man in hakama calmly swept up his weapon and twirled it swiftly towards her side, intently watching her reaction as she managed to duck quickly from its blow. The parasol darted at the child fluidly in a number of a few yet effective movements, aiming to strike her onto the dirt of the alley. But no matter what, she kept on to roughly escape contact with its hard end. After all, you can only trust on yourself for survival when you don't have anyone else. The man in hakama then held down his parasol, pausing for a while before easing his grip on its handle, slowly relaxing himself in front of the girl.

"You are an impressive little creature, child." For the first time she realised that there was something different about this man, something that wasn't there in the man and woman who lived with her, or the other adults she came across: hate. There was no hate in the man in hakama. None that she could feel from him right now, at least. And, for that matter, none that could possibly be directed towards her - a young child – for even being alive. Instead he said she was – _impressive_? _Her_? Maybe he was…

But just then he dashed his foot right into her small body, sending her into the air to crash against the wall of the alley

…and his arms caught her right before it could even happen.

She grabbed tight onto the man in hakama, her heart beating rapidly as she tried to comprehend everything that took place. Carefully, he put her back onto her feet and stood up again. When she looked up at him, she discovered that he didn't let go of his parasol when he caught her. What kind of man –

"Come with me, little girl." She didn't answer, staring at him now with fear and confusion. "I promise; I won't hurt you." But the attacks…the kicks…what if he had something in store..? He let out a sigh, turning his back and opening up his parasol for its shade.

"Fine. You can stay here, if you want. But it won't be long before these thugs come back, and this time they might even find your little hiding place..." Without any hesitation she followed him, stepping out from the darkness of the alley into the light of the street. But the fallen gang members from last night were gone. There was nothing that remained to suggest that they were fighting, no surprised faces, traces of dark red or unsheathed knives and broken chains.

It was…different.

As they walked on, she noticed that she was also different than before. She reached out and held onto part of the man's hakama, only to find her tiny grip replaced shortly into his own, grown-up hand.

"There is a saying for when things come out unexpectedly…" He said, watching her cling to him for protection while the two of them continued their way. "Whenever something happens that hasn't been foreseen, they say 'such is karma'. I wasn't expecting to find you there, little girl, and – as it seems - you weren't expecting to leave the streets alive. Perhaps you could say…that it was all because of karma." It **must** have been all because of karma.

Months earlier, the man and the woman left her there for dead.

The man in hakama took her in for life.


End file.
